Bad Timing
by adventurous97
Summary: Erin and Jay are secretly together, but are beginning to distance slightly because Erin hasn't been feeling well and she contends that she's fine. But when a big curve ball is thrown their way, will they stick together? Rated T for teenager level material.
1. I'm Fine

Unfortunate Timing

Chapter 1

Erin sat at Jay's kitchen table eating her breakfast, as Jay sat back down with his second cup of coffee. As she raised another spoonful to her mouth, she suddenly felt nauseous.

She dropped her spoon on the table and ran to the bathroom, leaving Jay to yell "Erin!" as he ran after her. After she threw up in the toilet, she sighed as Jay put his hands on her shoulders.

"You have an infection or something?" Jay asked sympathetically.

"No," Erin said affirmatively. "I'm fine."

"You just threw up for the fourth time this week, and you're saying that you're fine." Jay stood back and crossed his arms in the doorway as Erin washed her hands.

"Look, the past three times I've laid down for half an hour and then I'm fine, so today will probably be the same." Erin sighed, looking at Jay through the mirror.

"Erin, take a sick day. There's no harm in it." Jay didn't like seeing his girl feeling sick, and wanted her to get better. Erin then dried her hands and wheeled around to face her partner and her boyfriend.

"Look, Jay," she began, crossing her arms back at him. "I haven't taken a sick day since the day I started working intelligence. I don't want to miss any of the action."

"Or you just don't want to shatter your perfect attendance record?" Jay tilted his head.

"Jay, I'm independent and I can make my own choices. Are we clear? I'm taking an Advil and then I'm going to work."

Jay backed off and headed back for the kitchen. Fine," he replied, knowing that he had lost another battle of wills with his partner and girlfriend. He picked up his things from the table, stuck them in the dishwasher, grabbed his coat, badge, and gun, and sat down on the couch to look at Facebook while he waited for Erin to finish getting ready.

"Alright," Erin said as she speed walked into the kitchen area. Jay looked up and saw her putting her hair in a high ponytail. She didn't bother to straighten her hair, so it was still wavy when she put it in a ponytail.

"Jay?"

Jay stopped staring into space. "What?"

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Jay said as he stood up. "Two cars or one?"

Erin gave him one of her _Really? _looks, giving him his answer. "Okay, see you later!" he called as he walked out the door to his car. She would be able to lock up because he had given her a key.

Erin watched out one of the front windows from the kitchen as Jay left. As soon as he had driven away, she grabbed all her things, put them on the counter, turned off the lights, put her dishes in the dishwasher, and then put both of her hands on the edge of the counter and sighed. She proceeded to take an Advil, even though she was already beginning to feel better.

She picked up phone and dialed her friend Kendra, who was a doctor at Lakeshore. The call went to voicemail, so Erin started talking after the traditional "beep."

"Hey Kendra, it's Erin calling," she began, hesitated, and then continued, "I haven't been feeling well lately. I'm still working, but…" she paused again, and then quickly recollected herself. "I need a consultation. Off the books. Let me know when you're free." And she hung up.

She held her phone, turning it over in her hand, wondering if she had made the right decision to ask somebody about why was constantly feeling sick. But then she decided not to think about it any longer. She put her phone in her back pocket, grabbed her things, and walked out of Jay's apartment, locking the door as she went.


	2. What?

Chapter 2

After a day filled with an intense arrest (and a manhunt around an abandoned warehouse), Erin was exhausted. As soon as she finished her paperwork at her desk, she signed and dated the forms and walked into Voight's office to give him her forms. Erin checked her watch – it was almost 7 pm. "I'm out of here," she said as put the forms in his _Paperwork _basket on the front of his desk. "I'm exhausted."

"Alright, Lindsay," Voight said as he looked up from his own paperwork. "You take care. See you next Monday."

"See you Monday," Erin replied as she walked out of Voight's office. As she was reaching to grab her coat, she had a sudden rush of nausea, but it wore off after a few seconds. _Whew, _she thought to herself. She didn't want to throw up in front of the entire Intelligence Unit.

"Goodnight y'all," she yelled to everyone at their desks. "Goodnight," everyone, except Jay, replied in almost perfect unison. She took a quick look around and realized that Jay was immersed in his paperwork. And she was the first one to leave. _Oh well, _she though, _it's Friday and I'm going home to sleep. _She checked that she had everything she needed and she walked down the stairs, and buzzed herself out of the upstairs area. She was less than five feet from the door when she heard "Lindsay," in a monotonous, serious tone behind her. Erin stopped and chuckled lightly in annoyance. _Platt, _she thought, _I really just want to go. _Even so, she turned to face Sargent Platt.

"What's up?" Erin asked in the most enthusiastic tone she could.

Platt looked down at some forms as she said, "You Intelligence people are up there late tonight."

"Made an arrest a couple of hours ago," Erin replied as she leaned against the desk. "Tons of paperwork."

"I see," Platt said as she looked up to make eye contact with Erin. "I need your assistance with something."

"With what, exactly?" Erin said, not wanting to get wrapped up in some elaborate search during her weekend.

"I heard Burgess might be doing some work with you guys next week, so as a generous person I'm asking if you would keep an eye on her. I don't want her to get intimidated by all the guys in Intelligence and you're the only girl up there right now."

Erin smiled lightly. "No problem, sarg," she said. "I can teach her how I hold my own ground amidst all those guys."

"Sounds good. Goodnight Lindsay."

"Goodnight, sarg." Erin sighed as she left the building and headed for her car. She looked down at her phone just before putting the keys in the ignition and saw a text from Kendra. It had come in 15 minutes ago.

_You want off the books? Come in within the next hour. That's the only time I'm free until next Thursday._

Erin immediately unlocked her phone and texted a quick reply. She did a quick calculation in her head and deduced that going at normal speed it would take her 10 minutes to drive to Lakeshore. _Be there in 10, _she typed and hit _Send. _She threw her phone onto the passenger seat, and pulled out onto the street, and headed for Lakeshore.

It took Erin less than five minutes to find a parking spot in the Lakeshore parking lot. Visiting hours would be over in less than 30 minutes, so there weren't many people in the lot except for the surgeons, nurses, and doctors that would be doing the night shifts. She walked through the ER to the main reception area, and saw Kendra walking out of the entrance to the Outpatient Care Area. _There's really no one in the lobby of a hospital at 7:30pm, even in Chicago, _Erin thought.

"Hey, thanks for doing this," Erin said as she approached Kendra. They shook hands.

"No problem. Anything for my best friend." She smiled and motioned for Erin to follow her into the Outpatient Care Area.

"In here," she said as she pointed into the third examination room they came to. Erin stepped inside and sat down on the bed. She leaned her head against the wall next to the bed in frustration. "Ugh," Erin said out loud.

"What's going on, Erin?" Kendra asked as she pulled out some medical tools.

"I just felt like I was going to throw up again," Erin replied as she sat up again.

"Again? How often have you been feeling like this?"

"I've thrown up four times this week. And felt sick twice today."

Kendra took Erin's pulse and blood pressure. She also put the back of her hand to Erin's forehead. "No fever, and your pulse and blood pressure are a little above normal, but that's probably because you just got off work. Any other bad signs?"

"Not other than stomach ache, nausea, and vomiting," Erin said. "I'm really hungry right now though. A bit more than usual the past couple of weeks."

Kendra pulled a urine sample cup out of the cabinet. "Alright, Erin, I'm sure you've done one of these before. If this doesn't come up with anything, then we might run a blood test. Okay?"

"Okay," Erin said. She hopped off the bed, took the cup, and went to the bathroom. She handed it to Kendra a few minutes later, who handed it to a nurse. "It'll take about 15 minutes to run the tests. So, have you been experiencing any of these symptoms at work? I know you work long days."

"I've taken Advil every single time, so I think that tides my nausea over until the evening or the next day."

"Has anyone noticed you're not one hundred percent?"

Erin was about to respond _no, _but then she realized that somebody had seen.

Jay.

"Uh, well, my boyfriend has. But he's kept it quiet, thank God," Erin smiled slightly. "I don't like to attract a ton of attention to myself."

"Okay," Kendra replied. They talked casually for what seemed like forever to Erin until there was a knock on the door. Kendra turned around, said thank you to the nurse who was holding two slips of paper. _Great, _Erin thought. _There's probably something on there that solves my problem. _

Erin observed Kendra as she shut the door, put on her reading glasses to read the two pages, then flung the pages down on the table and pulled off her glasses. Kendra sighed as she looked at Erin.

"What?" Erin asked nervously.

Kendra put her hand on the edge of the desk on her side of the room. "Look, Erin, I don't know how to say this lightly, so I'm just going to tell you."

Kendra paused, waiting to see if Erin gave a response. She didn't give any, only a tilting of her head. _Oh my God, _Lindsay thought to herself, _what's wrong with me?_

"Erin, you're pregnant."

Erin took a double take. "What?"

"Your test came back with abnormally high levels of hGC. I'd say you're about five weeks along."

"Erin?" Kendra asked.

Erin couldn't respond. She was trying with all her might to stop herself from crying her eyes out. She couldn't believe that this had happened. _Shoot, _Erin thought to herself.

"Erin," Kendra repeated herself. "It's going to be okay. I assume your boyfriend's the father, correct?" Erin nodded in response without looking up. She had her head in her hands. "Look, Erin, this is off the books, like you said. No one's gonna know until you tell them. Alright?"

Erin got up off the table with tears in her eyes. She sniffed as she grabbed her jacket and bag, and she stopped before the closed door. She turned to face Kendra. "You know what I could really use right now? That I shouldn't have?"

"What?" Kendra asked, trying to smile a little bit. She was willing to play long with Erin's attempted humor.

"A pint of beer," Erin replied with a sigh.

Kendra chuckled, and said as Erin walked out, "And Erin, you'll need to get an ultrasound around 10 weeks. Just to make sure everything's okay."

"Call me next week, and I'll see when I have a day off," Erin replied as she walked out. "Oh, and thanks Kendra. As much I didn't want to hear what I heard, I appreciate it."

"No problem, Erin. Have a good night."

"You too." Erin exited the hospital and walked to her car.

It was almost 8:30pm now. As soon as she got in her car, she pulled out her phone. _1 Missed Call from Jay Halstead. 3 Text Messages from Jay Halstead._

Erin reluctantly unlocked her phone to view Jay's texts. They read, _Erin, are you okay? Sorry I didn't check in when you left._

_ Back at my place now. Wanna come over?_

_ Erin, please call me. I'm worried that you aren't responding._

Erin sat in her car for a few minutes, just thinking over what she was now faced with. She had to find a way to tell Jay that he was going to be a father.

_Will he dump me? _Erin thought suddenly. _He won't, he'll support me, _another part of her brain said. Then, she tried to think logically. _He has a right to know._

After that thought, she pulled out of the parking lot, exited the Lakeshore complex, and headed out into the night.


	3. He Deserves To Know

Chapter 3

Erin was not in the mood to deal with multiple red lights. She just wanted to get home and sleep off all her worries and wake up worry-free the next morning.

Of course, she knew that this was wishful thinking. Her problems weren't going to go away in a single night. As if the universe was trying to remind of her reality, she hit every single possible red light on her drive home except for one. A hopeful part of her tried to draw meaning from that single green light, like the possibility that there was hope in the distance despite all the hardship she was enduring now. But she tried to forget all that, because all she could seem to facet on was the next eight months. And beyond.

How she was going to be a mother. How Jay was going to be a father. How she had to figure out a way to tell Jay. How she worried about whether Jay would freak out and leave her or if he would stay and support her. How she would have to tell the entire Intelligence Unit. How she would have to tell Voight. How she would have to go on maternity leave.

All her worries began to overload her brain, and she was almost in tears as she pulled up outside her apartment building. She still hadn't replied to Jay's text messages – even though she knew she had to tell him, she didn't want to tell him yet. She hadn't even accepted her reality of becoming a mother herself.

She walked slowly up to her apartment, drank a glass of water, checked that everything in her apartment was relatively clean, took a shower, and got into bed. She glanced at her clock as she lay down. It read _9:42pm. Weird, _she thought, _I never go to bed this early. _Then she realized that her future would hold many things she had never experienced, and her brain began to fill with worries all over again. She tried thinking positively about her future (like her and Jay living happily ever after), but that didn't work. After what seemed like hours of trying to get to sleep, she glanced over at her clock again, praying that it would be at least halfway through the night. But she was wrong. When she hit the glow/snooze button, the clock ominously proclaimed _10:41pm. Seriously? _Erin thought to herself. She sighed in frustration. She turned on her other side again, realizing that lying on her back made her feel dizzy, and tried once again to get to sleep.

A few minutes later, Erin finally realized that she wasn't going to go to sleep until she got a huge weight off her shoulders.

Telling Jay.

She got up, put on a sweatshirt over her pajama shirt, and sat down at her kitchen table after turning on some dim lights. The city skyline looked so dark outside her window. She picked up her phone, scrolled to _Jay Halstead, _and hovered her finger over the call button. After a few seconds, she remembered what she had though earlier. _He deserves to know. _

She hit _Dial._

Jay found himself pacing around his apartment with a half empty beer bottle in his hand, his phone in the other. He was holding his phone so tightly that he was sweating.

He hadn't heard from Erin since she had left the precinct.

He couldn't believe that he was so worried about her that he couldn't even think about going to sleep. He just wanted to know that she was okay, and then he could rest.

He collapsed on the far right end of his sofa, sighing. He set his beer down on the table in front of him, and just as he was about to stand up again, his phone vibrated in his hand. To his delight and relief, the caller ID read _Erin Lindsay. _

He immediately hit _Answer, _putting the phone to his ear. "Erin! Oh my God, I've been so worried about you. Why didn't you call me until no-"

He was cut off by Erin's voice, which sounded uncharacteristically emotional and tired. "Jay, I can't take all those questions right now."

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Where are you?"

"At my apartment," Erin replied. Jay put his hand to his forehead, as he heard Erin trying to stop herself from crying. "I've been trying to sleep, but I need to talk to you. Right now."

Jay looked at his watch, almost surprised at how late it was. But the time didn't matter right now. Not when his girl needed him. "I'll be there in ten minutes," he told her as he hung up the phone, grabbed his keys and wallet, and ran out the door (and almost forgetting to lock it in the process).

Erin found herself pacing around her apartment in the dim light of her kitchen. After what seemed like an eternity since Jay had hung up, someone knocked on her door. She ran to door, peeked through the eyehole, and sure enough, Jay was standing on the other side.

She unlocked and opened the door, and Jay darted in as soon as there was enough room. He shut the door for her, pulling her into a tight hug once he saw how sad she looked. She cried a little, then broke out of the huge and sat down on her couch at the other end of the room. Jay followed her and sat down next to her, unsure of what was happening. "Erin, what's happened? Why did you wait until nearly 11pm to call me?"

"Jay," Erin began, grabbing his hand. _Oh my God, what has happened? _Jay feared the worst.

"You were right," she began. "When I was throwing up? I wasn't fine. I had a suspicion that I wasn't, so I went to the doctor after I left work today."

"And?" Jay motioned with his hand, and his face for her to keep going.

"Please promise me that you're not going to run out on me?" Erin replied, in an almost desperate tone.

"Of course, Erin, you know I'd never do that."

Erin sighed lightly with relief. "Okay, so…"

"So…," Jay began, "What is going on?"

Erin looked down at the sofa, cleared her throat, and looked straight into Jay's eyes. "Jay," she began slowly, "I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father."


	4. Real Sweet

**Thanks so much for all the visits and reviews! Keep at it! I've had a lot of fun writing the last couple of chapters, including this one. I'm so happy that so many people have read **_**Bad Timing **_**because this is my first CPD fanfic! Keep reading and enjoy this next chapter! **

Chapter 4

Jay was suddenly frozen in time. He was shocked. He replayed his girlfriend's words in his mind a few times. "Oh my God," he said to her face. "Oh my God!" he said louder to himself as he took his hand away from hers and put his head in his hands. He was in shock. He couldn't believe it.

He was going to be a father.

He quickly sat back up, and asked her, "How far along are you?"

"Five weeks," Erin replied almost straight away. "The vomiting is part of morning sickness. And it won't go away for a few months, unfortunately. I have to go in for the first ultrasound at the 10 week mark."

"You're gonna keep the baby?" he asked her, realizing afterwards that that may have not been the best approach. But he was relieved when she replied, "I think so. I mean, I don't really want to pay to get an abortion, so…yes, I'm keeping the baby.

"Jay, I know this is a lot to take in. I only just found out myself-"

Jay cut her off as he stood up. "Yeah, Erin, it is a lot to take in."

"Hey, don't speak to me in that tone! You're not the one who's thrown up four times this week!"

"And who told you that something might be up?" Jay shouted, almost at a yelling level. He took a deep breath, realizing that he was probably just as anxious as she was. Although, now that he thought about it, he needed to cut her some slack. "Look, forget what I just said. It's just a lot to take in, like you said, okay? I didn't expect to find out after less than a year in Intelligence that I was going to be a father." He paused, then had a sudden realization. "Does Voight know? What about Antonio? Are your results going to be reported to the CPD?"

"Just calm down," Erin said, more calmly this time. She stood up and walked over to him and said. "A doctor friend at Lakeshore agreed that it was off the books. They won't know until we tell them."

"So we are the only two people, other than your doctor friend, who know about this?"

"Yes."

"Ah," Jay replied, a million thoughts racing through his head. "I mean, is the baby okay? When are you going to tell Voight? What about the unit? When do you have to leave?"

"Kendra said that we'll find out about anything major at ten weeks, and that at this early stage there isn't really anything we can do. And in response to your other questions, I haven't even thought about how, or when, I'm gonna tell everyone in the unit. I haven't looked up when I get the ax either.

"Look, Jay, I just found out tonight, and I'm still trying to figure out how my life is gonna change. But whatever comes, I need you, Jay. Not just because I love you, but because I don't want our kid to grow up like I did. I want our kid to have two caring, loving parents, not one who's a junkie and one who's in jail."

"God, my life just got turned upside down," Jay replied, "Wait – I take that back. My life is going to change, but I'm going to look at it as positive change. How's that?" He waited for a response from Erin, and she nodded, in somewhat approval. "But do you know anything about parenting? Because I have no clue how to raise a baby."

"Antonio said that there is no manual for parenting," Erin replied. "But we could probably ask him for some tips."

"That might be helpful, but awkward. We'd have to go public with him if we asked him those questions."

"True," Erin realized. "We're gonna have to think about that one. But Jay – I don't want to tell Voight yet because I'm worried that he might hurt you."

"Me? Why me?" Jay asked, surprised.

"I heard him tell you once to keep it in your pants, remember? And he doesn't like being disobeyed, so-to-speak." Erin sounded concerned.

"Okay, we'll hold off on telling people then. That is, if you starting to show beats us to it."

"I shouldn't for a couple of months. Hopefully," Erin replied.

"You realize," Jay said, smiling, "That I'm going to have to cover you like crazy from now on."

"Why? I'll still be able to fire a weapon," Erin said, curious.

"Because," Jay began, grabbing Erin's hand, "To begin with, you're my partner in the Intelligence Unit. Second, you're my girlfriend. And third, you're a mom to-be. If you miscarried because I screwed up, I would never forgive myself for it."

"Oh my God, Jay," Erin replied, tears in her eyes, "You don't know how much that means to me!" She leaned forward and hugged Jay, and he held her tightly. He pulled back, and kissed her. "Do you want me to stay here tonight? Since you couldn't sleep earlier?"

"Sure," she replied with a small smile. She stood up to make sure her apartment door was locked. She sighed as she looked at Jay from across the room.

"What?" Jay asked, standing up.

"I was worrying that you would totally freak out and run out on me," Erin confessed.

Jay walked towards her, and kissed her again. Afterwards, he said, "Erin, only a jerk would walk out on you. And I'm not a jerk. We are both going to be parents, and I'm going to support you through this, okay?" He stopped talking, then his facial expression changed as he thought of Voight. "What?" Erin asked him.

"I was just thinking about Voight's face when we tell him that you're pregnant," Jay said.

"I have no idea what's going to happen," Erin said, looking down and then up again. "But we don't have to figure that out tonight. We'll just take it one day at a time. Now goodnight. I'm tired. Finally."

"Me too, now that I'm not worried about you being lost somewhere."

"Jay!"

"Seriously. I couldn't sleep either. I was so worried about you."

"That's real sweet, Jay. Real sweet." Erin kissed Jay goodnight, and walked back towards her room.


	5. Nervous

Chapter 5

The weekend passed by quickly.

Erin rotated between having stomach ache, feeling nauseous, eating a lot of food, watching TV, sipping coffee, sleeping, and just sitting on the couch. She really didn't feel like getting up to go to work on the gloomy Monday morning she was staring out at right now as she sipped a glass of orange juice. She normally drank coffee before she went to work.

Jay had gone with her to the supermarket yesterday, and what was supposed to be a calm outing to buy food turned into a weird event for Erin. Her mindset was already changing because she knew she was expecting, and she had first discovered her changed point of view in the supermarket. Erin remembered when she walked into the aisle with dry mixes and reached towards the coffee, and then realized that a lot of caffeine wasn't good for a baby. Erin smiled to herself as she recounted the conversation:

Jay had seen her retract her arm from the shelf with instant coffee mix, and he'd asked, "What are you doing? Don't you want to buy coffee?"

"No," Erin replied as she turned towards Jay. "A lot of caffeine isn't good for the baby."

"A little bit can't hurt," he had replied.

"If I drink a little, I'll start drinking a lot to replace the alcohol that I _really _need to stay off of," Erin said dryly.

"Alright then, but I still want some," Jay had said as he reached for one instant coffee container.

Erin's flashback was interrupted by Jay walking into the kitchen. As if by coincidence, Jay poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine. "Hey," he said, smiling, "How are you doing?"

"Alright, thanks," Erin replied. "I'm not feeling sick, so I'm taking that as progress."

"I'm glad," Jay said. "But let me do some of the driving, okay?'

"Okay," Erin conceded, "I'm so glad I'm your partner because I can rant to you when we're in the car about my stomach ache. If I had to do that to someone else, they would think that something was wrong."

"I'm so glad I get to be the recipient of your rants," Jay said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Erin shouted, slapping Jay on the hip.

"Sorry," Jay said, holding his arms up in the air like a criminal who was about to be arrested. "It's fine," Erin said. "Hormones."

"Oh, we gotta go," Jay said suddenly as he looked at his watch. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Erin replied, and sighed.

After they we were in the car, Jay asked, "How long do you think we should hold off with the big announcement?"

"I have no clue," Erin replied, looking at the Chicago skyline as they crossed a bridge on their way to the precinct. "I'm torn between telling them and giving them time to adjust and holding off for a while."

"Because of Voight?" Jay asked.

"That is the main reason I want to hold off," Erin smiled lightly, "I'm just worried that he will freak out and hurt you."

"He can't fire you, though," Jay said, trying to be comforting.

"But he might be able to get you demoted," Erin asked, wondering if that was true.

"I don't think so," Jay began, "With demotions, you have to have a specific, legit reason. I don't think getting your surrogate daughter pregnant fits in that category."

"Thanks," Erin said.

"What?" Jay said, worried that he had messed something up.

"Don't call me Voight's surrogate daughter, okay? He took me in and cared for me a lot, which is a lot more than the word surrogate traditionally means."

"I apologize," Jay said formally as they pulled into the precinct parking lot. "Okay, let's go solve some crimes."

"Yeah," Erin said slowly, feeling nervous about trying to hide her secret and wondering if she and or Jay would make it obvious. "Let's go solve some crimes."


	6. We're Going To Be Parents

**Thank you so much again to everyone for all the reviews and views! Please encourage others to view this Fanfiction and some of the other ones I have written (for **_**The Good Wife **_**and **_**Chicago Fire**_**)! **

**I apologize to anyone for a huge time lapse in this chapter but I wanted to jump to the fun stuff. Enjoy!**

Chapter 6

Jay's alarm went off at 8 am.

He immediately reached for the snooze button to cut off the piercing sound that always managed to wake him up every single morning he set it. He had never been able to sleep through it. He quickly turned over to try and go back to sleep for another five minutes before his alarm would go off again. But then after he sighed and put his pillow over his head, his brain suddenly realized that this morning wasn't any ordinary Saturday morning.

Erin's first ultrasound was today.

He immediately sat up, switched his alarm fully off, and got dressed before making some coffee. He glanced at his watch as he unplugged his phone from its charger on his nightstand. It was now 8:27 am.

He grabbed his coat and hat, since it looked like it was snowing outside. _Snowing in March? _He thought to himself. _Weird. _Then again, the past few weeks had certainly been weird. He drove fifteen minutes to Erin's apartment, parked outside, and walked up to her front door. He was so nervous that his hands were almost shaking. He didn't even have to knock before Erin opened the door. "Good morning," she said, her voice slightly shaky.

"Morning," Jay said as he kissed Erin's forehead. "You ready?" he asked

"As ready as I'll ever be," Erin said, sighing. "I'll be out in a sec," she said. Jay nodded and went back to wait in the car. He watched Erin as she locked her apartment, walked down the steps, and walked towards his car. Erin hadn't started to show yet, but she had told Jay that her doctor thought that she would in the coming weeks – which meant that they would have to tell people about the baby before the baby gave itself away.

Which meant that they had to tell Voight.

Jay's train of thought was interrupted by Erin getting into the car and pulling the passenger door shut. "What were you thinking about just now? You looked like you were staring off into space or something."

"Well," Jay replied, "I'm nervous about having to tell everyone."

"Please," Erin sighed, "Let's just jump one hurdle at a time, okay? After the ultrasound today, we can figure out what we are going to do."

"Sounds like a plan," Jay said as he pulled away from the curb. "Your OBGYN, right?"

"Yep," Erin said as she put her head against the head rest. When she had called Kendra a few days after she had seen her at Lakeshore, Kendra had recommended that she see a specialized doctor instead. "Let me know when we get there. I didn't sleep last night," Erin said as she closed her eyes.

"Why?" Jay asked. Erin immediately opened her eyes and sat up straight in her seat. "Because I'm so damn nervous about today, okay?" she said, almost at a shouting volume. Jay had not been prepared for this, and almost drove out of his lane on the street. "Sorry," Jay said apologetically, thinking, _wow, she's _really _got hormones happening. _When he looked over at her at a red light, her eyes were closed again. "Sorry," she said as he turned away.

"It's okay, I know you've got a lot on your mind," Jay said. He pulled into the parking lot parked, and cut the engine. It was still snowing lightly, but it wasn't sticking to the concrete. His watch read 9:03 am, and he knew that the appointment started in exactly twelve minutes, but neither of them moved. They both just sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and both Jay and Erin silently prayed that the other would break the silence.

Jay finally did. "Erin, why don't we go in – we need to check in."

"It will take less than two minutes to walk over there and check in, Jay. We don't have to go right now."

"Erin, I'm as nervous as you are. Although, probably not as nervous as you," he said as she turned her head towards him. "But we are going to see our baby for the first time today. So why hold off?"

Erin looked at him for a second, then said, "You're right. Let's go see our baby."

Jay held Erin's hand tightly as they walked into the reception area. They both walked up to the receptionist, and Erin said, after hesitating, "Hi, I have an appointment for an ultrasound at 9:15."

"What's your first and last name?"

"Erin Lindsay."

"Alright, I have you checked in, and your doctor will be ready for you in a few minutes."

"Okay, thanks," Erin said as she led Jay to a set of empty chairs in the corner of the room. She sat down, and Jay sat down next to her. Erin looked at the magazines on the table next to her. _Healthy Woman. Parentmap. Becoming A Parent. _One of the cover article titles read: _Tips for a Smooth Pregnancy. _Erin picked up the magazine and was about to open it when a voice called out, "Erin Lindsay?"

She looked up and saw a tall, slim nurse by one of the side doors. Erin took a deep breath, stood up, and Jay followed her over. "Good morning," the nurse said with a smile.

"Good morning," Erin said, trying to fake a smile as best she could. She wasn't exactly an ecstatic mom-to-be, like the three other women in the waiting room. "Right this way," the nurse said, holding open the side door that she had been standing in front of. The nurse led Erin and Jay halfway down the brightly lit hall and into a dimly lit examination room. Erin looked around as she stepped around the nurse into the room. The walls were painted a combination of bright colors, and the room looked back out on the parking lot (behind blinds covering the entire window). There was a bed with an ultrasound machine next to it, and a standard medical sink, table, and cupboard set. There were also two chairs in the corner.

"Sit down on the bed please," the nurse said. Erin sat down slowly on the foot end of the bed so she was still upright. Jay took her purse and coat and set both down on one of the chairs. The nurse quickly took Erin's heart rate and blood pressure, entered something on the iPad mini she had brought in with her, and said, "Dr. Anderson will be in a few minutes for the ultrasound. Feel free to lie back on the bed if you like." And with that, the nurse smiled and left the room, shutting the door as she went.

Erin lay down fully on the bed, and Jay stood next to her. They didn't talk at all, and they stayed next to each other in silence until Dr. Anderson entered the room. "Hello, Erin," she said, "How are we doing today?"

"Okay," Erin said, trying to sound positive.

"Only okay? Have you been experiencing nausea or stomach pain or any other symptoms the past few weeks?"

"Definitely both of those, and I've been feeling kind of crabby," Erin replied.

"That will be due to the rise in hormones in your body. It is totally normal," Dr. Anderson assured Erin. Dr. Anderson turned to Jay, and extended her hand as she said, "I don't believe we've met."

"Oh, sorry, I'm Jay Halstead," Jay said. "Erin's girlfriend." He felt weird saying it, even though it made sense.

"Nice to meet you. Erin," she said as she turned back to Erin, pulling out a tube that resembled one contained Arnica, as she continued, "You're at ten weeks, correct?"

"Yes," Erin said as Dr. Anderson turned on the ultrasound machine. Jay grasped Erin's right hand, his heart rate increasing.

"Alright, so the image is going to show up on this screen," Dr. Anderson said, putting a small imaging device with a cord attached to the main apparatus on Erin's stomach, on top of the clear gel. After a few seconds, the screen was still black. _What? _Erin thought silently.

And then the screen lit up with a black and white image.

A small being was easily visible on the screen. A small baby.

"There we are," Dr. Anderson said happily. After about ten seconds, she continued. "From what I can see here, everything looks fine." But Jay and Erin barely heard what she said. They were both too absorbed in looking at the image of their baby. Erin put her free hand to her mouth in surprise. Until that moment, there had been a tiny amount of denial inside her about the whole situation that had now vanished.

She was having a baby.

"I can print a picture for you if you like," Dr. Anderson said, and before Jay could say anything, Erin said super quickly, "Yes please." After a few minutes, Dr. Anderson had cleared the gel of Erin's stomach and had put everything away. She gave Erin a small picture that had come out of the ultrasound machine. She moved a couple of her fingers slightly, and realized, "Oh, Dr. Anderson, there's two here."

Dr. Anderson turned around. "Oh, I must have accidentally hit two copies in the computer program. Keep both," she said with a smile. "Oh, and according to my calendar, since you are due in 28 weeks, your due date is October 31st."

"Halloween? Seriously?" Erin said, surprised.

"The due date is only a marker for a full term of pregnancy," Dr. Anderson said. "It is actually quite unusual for babies to be born on their due date. And it isn't unusual to be due on a holiday. I've had patients who were due on Thanksgiving or Christmas."

"Well then, that'll be easy to remember," Jay said, smiling at Erin. She gave him a small smile back. "Do I need to book another appointment?" Erin asked.

"Yes," Dr. Anderson replied kindly, "In about three to four weeks. You can schedule that at the front."

"Okay," Erin said as she got up off the bed. "Oh, wait," she said as Dr. Anderson was about to leave, "When do we get to find out if it's a boy or a girl?"

"At the ultrasound at twenty weeks," Dr. Anderson replied, smiling, "Or you can keep it a surprise, if you so choose. Have a good rest of your weekend," she said as she left and closed the door.

Erin turned to Jay, still holding the two ultrasound pictures. Tears filled her eyes as she kept looking at them. "Erin, what's wrong?" Jay asked.

"Nothing's wrong," Erin said, leaning against the bed. "I just can't believe that this is really happening. We're going to be parents," she said. Jay walked around the bed and hugged Erin tightly, but aware that he shouldn't hug too tight. After about ten seconds, Erin sniffed and wiped her tears away with her shirt sleeve as Jay said to her. "Yeah, we're going to be parents."

Erin handed him one of the pictures. "Here," she said. "Put it somewhere. Wherever you want. Mine's going in my car."

Jay took the picture, and smiled as he looked at it again. He stuck it in his wallet so he could take it wherever he went.


	7. Unconscious

Chapter 7

Two days later, Erin woke up to a fresh wave of nausea. _Fabulous, _she thought, as she grunted and dragged herself out of bed. She drank two glasses of water, ate some toast, and took an Ibuprofen, which made her nausea go away by the time she was putting her badge on at her front door. She checked her watch to make sure that she was running on time, and locked her apartment door and walked to her car. It was a crisp April morning, but the sun was already starting to peek through the gloomy, gray clouds overhead.

When Erin parked her car in the parking lot, she opened the compartment between the two front seats and looked at the ultrasound picture she had received 48 hours earlier. She smiled, still in a small amount of disbelief that she was going to have a baby.

She looked up when she heard Halstead slamming the front door of his car shut across the lot, and proceeded to get out of her car, lock it, and walk over to meet him. "What were you looking at over there?" he asked, giving her an affectionate side hug.

"You know exactly what I was looking at," Erin replied with a small smile. Jay didn't respond orally, rather, he smiled back. They had agreed that they were going to tell Voight and the unit sometime very soon, but weren't sure yet. Erin was still fearful of Voight's possible lashing out at Jay once he found out. They walked through the lobby of the precinct (but not without saying a quick "Good morning," to Sargent Platt), and headed upstairs to the Intelligence office. Ruzek, Olinsky, and Burgess followed Jay and Erin up the stairs.

Everyone exchanged good mornings after Antonio walked in, and Voight motioned for everyone to sit down. He was holding a thick, tan-colored case file.

"So, we got a big bust today," he began, "to do with a drug-related gang." He turned around and stuck some pictures and maps on the large white board behind his right shoulder. "My CIs have given us tips that the Karlos gang is trading crack and using Chicago as one of their drop-off points. This morning, a CI working undercover in the gang reported that they were temporarily staying in this warehouse on North Brooklyn because their vehicles need some repairs. Our mission is to get in there and arrest them before they are able to leave."

"How many are there?" Erin asked.

"According to my CI, two drop-off guys and one handler," Voight replied. "So, since there are eight of us including me, we should be able to take them down handily.

"I want everyone ready to go and suited up in ten minutes. Vests and guns and all," he finished, walking back into his office to get his coat. He turned around again in the doorway and said, "Oh, and Burgess, ride with Antonio. Summers will ride with me."

Burgess nodded at Antonio as everyone headed downstairs. After a little less than ten minutes, the four unmarked intelligence cars began making their way towards North Brooklyn. Voight ordered that everyone except Olinsky and Ruzek were going in to do the bust – he wanted the two of them to stand guard in case the gang called in emergency reinforcements. Once everyone was in place, Antonio broke the down the side door and everyone filed in.

The warehouse was dark except for a few dimly lit LEDs that were obviously running out of battery. The group remained silent, and split up into two groups of three when they arrived at a large line of shelves. Crack was the main item on the shelves. Voight, Burgess, and Antonio went to the right down a hallway next to the last aisle, and Halstead, Summers, and Lindsay went left, scanning the aisles as they walked. One of the guys got caught by Voight's group, and another by Halstead's group.

The group exited the warehouse, handing the two handcuffed guys off to Ruzek and Olinsky to take to the precinct. After Ruzek put the second guy in the back of the car, he said, "Guys? Where's Lindsay?"

Halstead immediately scanned the group.

Lindsay was missing. _What? How could this have happened? She was right behind me when we caught that guy…_

_ But I hadn't checked._

_ We had to catch three._

_ We only caught two._

Halstead immediately picked up his gun and sprinted for the open warehouse door. "Halstead! Stop!" Voight yelled, but to no avail. Antonio and Voight ran after Halstead, guns in hand, but only after they had told everyone else to stay put.

Halstead ran inside the dark warehouse. "Lindsay!" he yelled, forgetting appropriate cop etiquette that he was supposed to adhere to during a bust. "Lindsay! Where are you?" he yelled again. As he began walking down where Voight's group had caught the first guy, he heard a scream from the other side of the shelves.

He sprinted down the aisles and around the far shelf. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the third gang member that they were supposed to have caught pointing a gun at Lindsay's head. Lindsay was unconscious, and Halstead realized why when he saw a wet-looking white cloth in the guy's gun-free hand. _He knocked her out. _Halstead was suddenly starting to freak out. "STOP!" He yelled, even though he was only five feet from the gang guy.

"Drop your weapon!" Halstead ordered. "What do you want?" the gang guy said in a creepy, low tone.

"I said, drop your weapon!" Halstead ordered again. He heard faint footsteps multiple yards behind him, telling him that two people, most likely Voight and someone else, were coming closer.

"If you come one step closer, I'm going to shoot her," the gang member said.

Antonio and Voight ducked behind a shelf, and crept quietly down the aisle until they were nearly parallel with the gang member.

Halstead kept yelling at the guy, getting more and more anxious. The gang guy was still refusing to drop his weapon. He then watched the gang guy pull the bullet into position in the barrel. The gang guy turned to Halstead. "If you shoot me, I shoot her."

Halstead tried verbally to get the guy to surrender, but then, on a whim, suddenly made a lunge for the guy when his head was turned. Unfortunately, Voight picked that moment to fire a bullet at the gang member's head. "NO!" Antonio yelled.

But it was too late.

Halstead fell to the ground on top of the gang member. Lindsay was still unconscious as Antonio and Voight sprinted around the corner to Halstead. But Halstead stood up before they got there and ran straight over to Lindsay. "Erin. Erin!" He shook her, trying to revive her. _She's still breathing, stay calm, _he tried to tell himself.

Suddenly he was pulled to his feet and slammed against a shelf by none other than Voight. "What were you thinking? Huh? You should have stayed where you where!" Voight yelled in Halstead's face. "I could have hit you! You could have died instead of him!"

"I'm sorry, okay? We weren't getting anywhere with the 'stand still' technique, so I decided to jump for it. I had to protect Erin!" Jay said back. He was released from Voight's grasp and ran straight back to Lindsay. He picked her up and carried her out to their car and sat her down in the passenger seat. "Take her to the ER, in case they gave her anything dangerous," Antonio suggested.

"That's where I'm going," Halstead replied, as he ran around the front of the car. Antonio watched Halstead speed out of the lot in the direction of Lakeshore, with questions coming into his mind. Before he could think anymore, Voight approached him. "Why the hell would he do that?" Voight asked Antonio.

"I have no clue," Antonio said. "He's never done that before."

"Well, could you do me a favor and figure out why he broke conduct? We accomplished the job and all, but I want to know what's going on."

Antonio sighed, no wanting to interrogate either Jay or Erin. But he had to. "Alright, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," Voight replied. "Everybody back to the precinct. Ruzek, Olinsky, follow me to the back so we can put these people in jail cells." And with that, the intelligence unit left the lot, as regular police officers had already arrived.


	8. Distracted

**Hope everyone had a great Easter! Enjoy this next chapter! **

Chapter 8

Jay sat tapping his fingers and feet on the sides of his chair. He had been waiting in the ER for the past hour while doctors looked at Erin. He had had to tell the doctors that she was expecting because they had asked about any conditions she had. Jay was worried about the baby just as much as he was worried about Erin.

When he pulled out his phone to check his texts again, a nurse walked into the general waiting area. "Jay Halstead?" she called out.

Jay leapt out of his chair and speed walked over to the nurse. "Is Erin okay?" he asked. "Is the baby okay?" he said in a quieter tone.

"She asked for you as soon as she came to. Come with me," she said.

After they were in the ER hallway, the nurse said, "Both Erin and the baby are fine. She just inhaled a common knockout gas from that cloth the gang guy used. She should be fine by tomorrow or the day after. Really nothing to worry about."

"Thank God," Jay said, almost crying with relief. The nurse directed Jay to Erin's room and he rushed in. She had shifted her focus towards the doorway upon hearing footsteps, and said, "Jay," quietly as he came in and sat down next to her.

"Erin, oh my God, I was so worried," Jay said.

"They said it was just a knockout gas," she replied. "I'm so sorry. I know I should have done something-"

"Don't apologize, Erin! There was nothing you could have done."

"What happened? Did you bring me here?"

"Well," Jay began, clearing his throat. "I didn't realize you were missing until we were all outside, and I found the third guy pointing a gun at your head when I ran back in again. I was so scared I ended up jumping towards the guy just as Voight fired a bullet through his head. It barely missed me."

"What? You almost got shot?" Erin said, worried.

"Trust me, I'm fine," Jay assured her. "I freaked out about you and the…the baby, so I lunged. Voight slammed me against a shelf for it, though."

"I'm sorry for saying this, but I'm not surprised," Lindsay replied with a small smile. "He doesn't like it when people don't follow orders."

"This time it was totally necessary though," Jay said, squeezing Lindsay's hand. "I couldn't lose you. Come on, let's get you home."

"Can you stay with me at my place tonight? I don't want to be alone after getting knocked out and nearly shot in the head, apparently," Lindsay said as she sat up.

"Of course, Erin," Jay said. "I'll drop you home, but I probably need to go back to the precinct to fill out paperwork, okay?"

"Okay," Erin agreed. When Jay eventually got back to the precinct, Antonio asked, "Where's Erin?" as Jay sat down at his desk.

"She's okay. Standard knockout gas, apparently. I dropped her home to rest but she should probably be back tomorrow."

"That good to hear. Thanks for doing that, man," Antonio gave Jay a fist pump. "Of course," Jay said, smiling. He then tried to focus on doing his paperwork, but would end up taking longer than everyone else to finish because he wanted to go back and be with Erin.


	9. Just Many More To Go

**Thank you so much for all the awesome reviews! I love knowing that all of you love this story so much – it just further motivates me to keep writing. **

Chapter 9

The next morning, Erin was sitting at her kitchen counter eating some cereal when someone knocked on her door. She was already dressed in clothes for work, so she casually strolled over to the door and looked through the peephole.

Antonio was standing on the other side. _What? _Lindsay thought, confused. Nevertheless, she opened the door. "Good morning, Lindsay. How are you feeling?" Antonio asked politely.

"Much better, thanks. I appreciate the rest time yesterday."

"No problem," Antonio replied. "Can I come in? We need to talk."

_Shoot, _Erin thought. "Uh…sure, come on in."

"Thank you," Antonio said. Once the door was shut, he said, "I assume Halstead told you that he got a little out of hand yesterday?"

"You mean by lunging at the gang dude to stop him from shooting at my head? Yes, I did hear about that," Lindsay replied, crossing her arms.

"He wasn't supposed to lunge for an armed suspect. One's supposed to keep a distance. But I want to know why he lunged for an armed suspect. I thought about asking him, but then I remembered that Halstead doesn't really like to talk. And then I remembered that he lunged to save you, so I was wondering if you could provide some insight as to why he did."

"Um, well…" Lindsay muttered, thinking, _oh my God. I'm going to have to tell him. While Jay's still here. _

"Erin, I'm waiting," Antonio insisted.

"Can I send you out if I don't want to talk about it?"

"No, because I'm not going anywhere until you do."

Erin suddenly found herself out of options. She walked over to her jacket and felt around in one of the inside pockets, and pulled out the ultrasound picture while her back was turned to Antonio. She had brought it in yesterday after Jay had dropped her home. She folded it in her hand, turned around, and walked back over to Antonio. Antonio saw that Erin was holding something in her hand, and asked, "What's that?"

"The answer to your question," Erin remarked monotonously, handing over the folded picture.

Antonio cautiously opened up the folded photo paper, and did a double take when he saw the image. He knew exactly what a picture like _that _meant. "You're not serious," he said, looking back up at Erin.

"Would I really lie about something like this?" Erin said, crossing her arms.

"And you're not seriously telling me that-"

Erin cut Antonio off, knowing exactly what he was asking. "Halstead's the father, alright?"

"When were you planning on telling the unit about this?" Antonio asked, curious.

"Sometime really soon, actually," Lindsay said, attempting to reassure Antonio. Before Antonio could say anything else, Jay walked in from the back of the kitchen.

"Erin, why is Antonio here?" he asked, worried.

Erin turned around, her arms still crossed. "We're busted," she said.

Jay did a double take, surprised. "Okay," he began slowly. "So I guess our secret got out a little earlier than we intended." He walked slowly over to where Erin and Antonio were standing.

When Jay stopped behind Erin, Antonio said, "Alright, thanks for the info, if you want to call it info. But this is big news, so let me know if you want any parenting tips. My wife would probably be willing to tell you some stuff about parenting too, now that I think about it." He smiled for the first time since looking at the ultrasound picture. "But look, I got both of your backs with this. Congrats."

"Thanks, man," Jay said. They shared another fist pump. "And take care, Erin," Antonio said. He gave Erin back the ultrasound picture.

"Thanks," Erin said, but then said, "Wait!" when Antonio approached the door. He turned back around, and Erin said. "We need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" he said, preparing for any possible thing that they might ask him to do.

"We're going to have to tell Voight and the rest of the unit, so would you be willing to be a bystander when we tell Voight?"

"Can't you just tell him yourself?"

"I don't want Voight giving Jay a concussion or punching him in the face," Erin said, being totally serious.

Antonio thought about it for a second, sighed, and then agreed. "Alright, let me know when you're planning on doing that, and I'll be there." He said goodbye, and then left Erin's apartment to head to work.

Jay then said to Erin, "Well, that's one person down."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Erin said as she turned around to face Jay. "Just many more to go."

**Hope everyone liked this! Voight's reaction is coming soon…**


	10. Just Stuff

**Sorry for the long wait…I've been busy the past few days! Enjoy!**

Chapter 10

Lindsay and Halstead carpooled to work, but resumed their routine of maintaining distance between each other once they arrived in the Intelligence Office. Both of them could only imagine what the various people in the unit, not to mention the precinct, would say.

_Platt will probably never let us hear the end of it. At least we don't have to take orders from her, _Halstead thought. At a similar moment, Erin thought to herself, _God, I hope Voight doesn't do anything crazy._

Everyone in the unit exchanged their casual good mornings, and once everyone was seated Lindsay's desk phone rang. She picked up, and it was Sargent Platt downstairs.

"Hello, Lindsay, could you please come down and buzz Burgess in for me?"

Lindsay sighed, her eyes wandering around the room. "Sure thing. Be right there." She hung up the phone, and yelled behind her, "Be right back!" as she headed down the stairs.

"Morning, Burgess," she said (trying to pull off a smile) as she buzzed Burgess into the Intelligence area and proceeded to walk slightly in front of her up the stairs. "Morning," Burgess replied. She sensed that Lindsay wasn't in the talking mood, so she didn't say anything until Voight greeted her in the main area.

"Hi Burgess," he said in his natural, low tone of voice.

"Morning, Sargent," Burgess replied, placing her hands in her pockets. Before she could ask, _What are we doing today, _Voight brought a thick manila file out from his office, opened it, and began to flick through it. His phone rang, though, before he could pull anything out of the file. All the detectives and officers sitting in the room couldn't see anything written on the outside of the file. So they just waited, in awkward silence, while Voight picked up his phone. "Voight," he said, using his traditional, concise phone greeting. He listened for a while, and then said, "Alright," hung up, and dumped the manila file back in his office.

"Rolling out as soon as possible," he ordered. "Murder down on Drake."

"Gang related?" Halstead asked, curious.

"Guess we'll find out when we get there," Voight said as he went into his office to get his protective vest. When he turned around and saw that his team wasn't moving very quickly, he shouted, "Let's go!" and made everyone hustle out of the room. Once everyone had their protective vests on, they walked out to their cars. As Halstead and Lindsay both approached the driver's side of their car, Halstead blocked Lindsay's way. "I'm driving," he said assertively.

Lindsay, not wanting to create suspicion, silently agreed, nodded, and sat on the passenger side of the car. Once they were on the way towards Drake, she asked, "Why, exactly?"

Jay looked at Erin out of the corner of his eye. "I want you to take it easy."

"This job doesn't exactly allow for taking it easy," Erin replied, with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "And you just missed the turn for the main boulevard."

"I know a shortcut," Jay replied, "That'll get us to Drake faster."

"Fine, I just would have taken the main boulevard."

"Why?" Jay asked. "You'd have to drive fast through more traffic."

"I like driving where there are lots of people."

Jay nodded, reminding himself that Erin was experiencing a lot of hormones. "Fair point," was the reply he decided upon.

The Intelligence Unit had finished with their paperwork less than three hours after arriving at the crime scene. The shooting had turned out to be gang-related, but Voight had a contact with the accused gang and they had claimed responsibility for the crime. Halstead was thankful for Voight's contacts a lot of the time because they made the job easier, but Voight still made for an interesting boss.

After everyone was seated at their desks again, Jay received a text from Erin, who was sitting across the aisleway. _Let's do it, _was all the text said.

Jay looked up towards Erin, but she was looking down at her phone. He replied, _Now? _He received a reply less than a minute later. _Yes._

Jay sighed, bracing himself. _Okay, _he replied, his fingers beginning to shake. He stood up as soon as he heard Erin stand up, and followed her into Voight's office. Antonio caught on, and followed them in. "Can we talk to you about something?" Lindsay asked cautiously.

"Sure," Voight said, glancing up from his desk. "Do we need to shut the door?"

Antonio, Erin, and Jay all exchanged glances, and Antonio proceeded to nod and shut the door. He positioned himself halfway between Voight and Jay and Erin, just in case.

"What's goin' on?" Voight asked, now becoming suspicious. "Come on, Erin, spit it out. And what are Jay and Antonio doing in here?"

"What I have to say concerns both me and Jay," Erin said, trying to appear as composed as possible. In truth, she was more nervous standing in front of Voight than she had ever been in her entire time knowing him.

Jay gave Erin a quick glance, silently asking, _Do you want to, or shall I? _Erin looked away from him without nodding, grabbed Jay's hand, sighed, and said, "I'm pregnant."

Voight was stunned. "What?"

"You heard me," Erin said, "And Jay's the father."

Voight turned to Jay, standing up and beginning to walk around the desk. "I warned you!" Antonio stepped forward and grabbed Voight just as Erin pulled her gun from her holster and pointed it at Voight's face. She moved between Jay and Voight.

"Look, Hank," she began, "There's nothing you can do about it. We're adults, and we make our own choices. I know that you didn't want Halstead and I to get together, but we did, so you just have to deal with it, okay?"

Voight pulled back, panting, relieving Antonio of his holding duties. Voight crossed his arms and leaned against the desk and said, "How far along are you?"

"About twelve weeks," Erin replied, putting her gun back in its holster. "I know I have to take maternity leave at twenty, so I basically only have two months left."

"Well," Voight said, scratching his forehead, "We'll have to make the most of those two months then, won't we?"

Erin, Antonio, and Jay all stayed silent in surprise. "Yeah, I guess so," Jay replied.

"I wasn't talking to you," Voight snapped. "Lindsay?" he asked.

"Yes, we will," Erin replied, smiling. "Do I have to fill out any forms or anything?"

"Not that I know of, but I will check on that and get back to you," Voight replied. "Now if you don't mind, I have some paperwork to finish."

"Wait, so…" Erin trailed off, then began again, "You're on board with this?"

"I guess so, since I didn't have any choice in the matter in the first place." Everyone took that as their queue to leave the office, so Erin opened the door and Jay and Antonio walked out after her. "What was that about?" Olinsky asked, seeing the slightly bemused looks on Jay and Erin's faces as Antonio sat back down.

"Just stuff," Jay replied monotonously. He started to walk back to his seat, but Erin dragged him back to the front of the room and announced, "We're having a baby."

The rest of the day had been filled with cheers, laughs, funny looks, and questions. Jay and Erin had both made sure to thank Antonio for stopping Voight in the office, and they had both been congratulated by everyone at least twice by the end of the day. Apart from Antonio, everyone had been torn between being excited and utterly surprised.

Erin and Jay were at Jay's apartment, and Jay plopped down on the couch with a bottle of beer. He flicked through a few television channels and eventually found the Stanley Cup Playoff match that the Chicago Blackhawks were playing in. Erin had gone to take a shower, and she wasn't a big ice hockey fan, so he was seizing the opportunity. He had walked into the kitchen to grab a few chips, after the Blackhawks had scored their second goal, when a loud knock sounded on the door.

Jay didn't hear anything from Erin down the hall, and proceeded to walk around the corner to answer the door. He rarely looked through his peephole before opening the door, but this time he wished he had - after he saw who was on the other side.

"Evening, Halstead," said a middle-aged man in a cool, stern tone.


	11. You Get Me

**Sorry I haven't posted one in such a long time…these past few weeks have just been hectic! Hope you enjoy this next chapter – I have another one in the works! **

Chapter 11

Halstead didn't really know how to reply. "Hi?" he said, almost as if asking question. Before he could say anything else, Voight stepped through the door frame and stopped when he was next to Jay. He turned to him and said, "Blackhawks game?"

"Yeah, I haven't caught any of their playoff games so far," Jay replied, trying to smile and appear calm. Voight turned his focus towards Jay's living room, and Jay began to think that he was off the hook with Voight and the whole baby thing.

He was wrong.

Jay tried to move to the kitchen, but Voight pinned him against the wall, punched him in the face, and then pushed him face-first to the floor. When Jay tried to get back up, Voight kicked him in the chest. Jay gasped as pain began coming from his rib cage area. He fought with Voight and managed to get himself standing again.

But he wasn't prepared enough.

Voight delivered another blow to Jay's face, and then sent him to the floor again after punching him in the throat. Jay fell against the wall, grabbing his rib cage in pain. He could feel blood coming from his nose and mouth. He looked up, trying to catch his breath, and saw Voight still standing next to him. "Don't you ever, _ever_, go near Erin again. I'm blaming you for putting her in her current situation. You should have followed my orders in the first place. I don't want you as Erin's partner anymore. You can switch with someone." After he was finished talking, he walked out Jay's front door, slamming it closed behind him.

Erin was in the process of putting her clothes and toiletries into her duffel bag when she heard loud noises from the front of the apartment. She thought Jay had just dropped a glass or something. But she realized that something else was up when she heard a low, domineering voice, and heard the door slam.

She opened the door slowly, gun in hand. "Jay?" she called out. She heard a faint, weak voice calling out from the down the hall. "Erin."

Erin ran down the hallway, and then sprinted towards Jay yelling, "Oh my God! Jay! What happened?" She dropped to the floor next to him and saw his hands grasping his rib cage. And his bloody face. Erin began to cry because she was so scared. "Do you need to go the hospital?"

"No, I don't think so," Jay grunted. "My rib cage just hurts like hell."

"Here, let me see," Erin offered, and after Jay removed his arms, she felt along his rib cage. "No breaks as far as I can tell. Probably just some bruising. Did someone kick you? Who was in here?"

"Voight," Jay blurted out, still lying on the floor.

Erin gasped. "What?" _It was all a façade, _Erin realized. _Voight wasn't really on board, and he was never going to be. _"Oh my God, Jay, I'm so sorry." She helped him up and over to the couch, and got some wet towels to clean off his face. Once his nose had stopped bleeding and Jay started to look like himself again, Erin said, "It's a miracle you don't have a black eye."

"I'm glad I don't have one," Jay replied monotonously. He looked at Erin as she wiped the last bits of dried blood off his face. "Voight said that he doesn't want me as your partner anymore."

"That's nonsense!" Erin replied, surprised. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"What if he just does it anyway?"

"Then I will talk to him," Erin said, realizing that going the simple talking route hadn't worked earlier in the day. She sighed and said, "You shouldn't have had to go through this. You didn't deserve this at all."

"I can handle it," Jay said. "I don't care what Voight says. I love you, and we're going to be a family, and he shouldn't have the right to interfere with us."

Erin kissed him. "Love you too," she replied.

Jay asked, "Can you stay here tonight?"

"Oh, I'm staying here," Erin replied. "I want to give Voight a piece of my mind if he comes 'round here again…wait, did he know I was here?"

"Nope," Jay replied with a sigh of relief. "But don't get yourself all worked up. It's late."

"We need to report this. I am not going to stand by and watch him order us around and treat you terribly – and beat you up – just because we got together when he didn't want us to."

"Why? Wouldn't Voight just get even angrier?"

"I'm willing to take that risk. Since my fears of Voight coming after you came true, I want him to know that he crossed the line."

"How did you know that him coming after me was a possibility?" Jay asked, curious.

"Ever since he took me in, he was always super protective of me when I was in relationships with guys. I'm sure he threatened at least one of them. But the bottom line is, he didn't want me getting hurt."

"And he views this as a situation where he needs to be protective?" Jay continued.

"I guess so," Erin said, sighing, as she sat down on the couch next to Jay. "But I don't need his protection anymore. I can make my own choices.

"He doesn't seem to fully get that while I'm grateful to him for taking me in and helping me rebuild my life, I don't need his protection anymore. I'm not sixteen anymore, you know?" Jay nodded, so Erin continued, "But you understand what it means to be independent. You get me…which is why I trust _you _much more than Voight nowadays." Erin paused, as if having some realization, and Jay asked, "What?"

Erin gave him an _oh no _look. "We have to go to work tomorrow."

"Let's just call in sick. Have a day where it's just you and me," Jay suggested.

"I would love that, but…wouldn't Voight know that we weren't really sick?"

"You could say that you've got really bad morning sickness, and I can say that I got drunk last night and I need a day to recover from the hangover."

"Wow, really creative," Erin acknowledged. "But I've found that the best way to deal with Voight is to deal with him head on, not avoiding him."

"Then work tomorrow it is," Jay conceded. "But I still want to be your partner."

Erin gave him a friendly punch in the arm. "Are you kidding? I'm not going to listen to him, let alone sign off on a partner change. He can't separate us, no matter how hard he tries."


	12. Say What?

Chapter 12

Jay pulled into the parking lot and sighed. He wasn't how to prepare himself for walking into work to a boss who had punched him the night before. But he had promised Lindsay that he would just confront the problem, so he slowly got out of the car, wincing in pain. His ribs still hurt. And just to add to his problems, he now had a black eye.

Which everyone would be asking about.

He walked into the precinct lobby and tried to dodge past Platt, but was caught halfway up the stairs. "Halstead," he heard Platt say. _Shoot, _Jay thought. He turned around slowly, walked down the stairs, and stopped in front of Platt's desk. "What's up?" he asked, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Lindsay told me you had something to report," she replied monotonously.

Jay looked around, and after seeing that there were a lot of people around, he leaned forward and told Platt, "Not now."

"Something to do with Voight? Did he give you that black eye?"

Jay nodded silently and walked towards the stairs. He could feel Platt's eyes just staring into his back as he entered the passcode on the keypad to the intelligence unit. He walked up the stairs, and as he tried to make eye contact with Erin (who was sitting at her desk), Antonio was the first look up and say "Good morning." But he didn't quite finish because he pulled a face when he saw Jay's black eye.

"What happened to you?" Antonio asked. "Get in a fight or something?"

"Not exactly," Jay replied as Erin looked up. He sat down in his desk chair and looked down to find a bright red transfer form on the top of his paperwork files. "What?" Jay said quietly. He sighed again.

"What is it, Jay?" Lindsay asked across the aisle.

Jay, without saying anything, lifted up the red form so Lindsay could see it. Suddenly furious, Lindsay stood up, yanked the transfer form out of Jay's hand, and proceeded to turn on her shredder. As she was feeding the red paper into the shredder, Antonio started walking over to Jay and Lindsay. "Erin, what are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Shredding this form," Erin replied, still turned towards the shredder.

"That's a transfer form. For Halstead. Why are you shredding it?"

Erin didn't reply, and Jay took the opportunity to scan the room. Voight wasn't in yet. "Because we knew it was coming," Jay said just loud enough for Antonio and Erin to hear. Erin whirled around in surprise. "Jay," she said, with a hint of anger.

"What?" Jay said, defending himself, "He's not in yet."

"Who are you talking about? Voight?" Antonio asked, "Transfer forms need the boss' signature. Antonio saw the looks on Jay and Erin's faces, and then had an _aha _moment. He crossed his arms as he said, "You knew this was coming. You knew Voight was going to try and make Jay transfer. How?"

"Say what?" said a low, slightly suspicious voice. Antonio, Erin, and Jay all turned around to see the man they didn't want to see standing at the top of the stairs.

Voight.


	13. I Might Just Quit

Chapter 13

Erin turned off her shredder in the awkward silence of Voight's arrival. It was as if everyone had frozen in time. "Hi, Sargent," Erin said quietly, sitting back down in her chair and trying to refocus on her paperwork. She looked up quickly as Jay and Antonio sat back down and Voight walked up to Jay's desk.

"Where's the transfer form?" Voight asked Jay insistently. Jay smiled lightly up at Voight, showing that his desk didn't have a transfer form on it. "Where is it?" Voight asked, louder now.

"I shredded it," Jay heard Erin say from the other side of the aisle.

Voight turned around in surprise. "What did you say?" He started getting closer to Erin's desk, and Erin stood up to be on the same level as her boss. "Like I said, I shredded it," Erin replied, crossing her arms. As Jay stood up, he noticed that Erin was starting to show. Antonio instinctively stood up and stood next to Jay as Voight yelled, "What the heck?" in Erin's face.

Despite all that had happened the past couple of months, Erin remained composed. "You can't make Jay and I switch partners. Both partners have to sign the transfer form - not just the boss."

"How did you know about it?" Voight yelled.

"Because I was there last night!" Erin yelled in reply, the words just coming out of her mouth. When Voight did a double take, she elaborated (as Jay came over next to her), "You showed up at Jay's apartment and basically left him on the floor, and I was in the back room. You didn't know that I was there, but I ran out of the back room after I heard him moaning in pain. And he told me everything."

Erin's eyes were filling with tears as the rest of the Intelligence Unit just stood frozen in disbelief. Erin moved between Jay and Voight when she realized that Voight might try to punch Jay again. "No," she said as she stopped between her adopted father and her lover, "Don't you dare hurt him again. Because when you hurt him, you hurt me. And you promised that you would never hurt me."

"Erin, he's negatively impacted your life!" Voight said, agitated.

"He hasn't negatively impacted my life!" Erin insisted. "I love him, and you can't force us apart." Tears began to roll down Erin's face as she concluded, "Right now I have so little respect left for you that you better keep your distance from me and Jay for a while. Because if I lose all of it, I might just quit."

Jay gasped at Erin's comments, still standing behind her. Voight sighed, looked out the window behind Erin and Jay, and stormed into his office and slammed the door. Without even turning around to face Jay, Erin grabbed her coat from the back of her chair and left the room. As everyone quickly sat back down, Jay ran out the room after Erin.

"Erin! Erin!" Jay called, spotting her as she walked out to their car in the precinct lot. As he got closer, she got in the driver's seat of the car, but didn't buckle up or drive off. Jay dived into the passenger seat next to her, and when he looked at Erin, she was on the verge of sobbing, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Erin," Jay said calmly, grabbing hold of her right hand. Before he could say anything else, Erin said, looking out the windshield, "After all the support he's given me, I thought he would just continue to support me through this. And he's done the exact opposite."

"Erin," Jay said again.

"Seriously," Erin said, turning to Jay, "First he lies to me that he's supportive, then he beats you up, and then he tries to split us up! He's unbelievable." Jay embraced Erin in a tight hug as she began to sob into his jacket. He just held her for a few minutes, rubbing his right hand against her back as she let out all her emotions.

As he looked out into the lot, he saw Antonio and Ruzek just rounding the corner. Antonio made eye contact with Jay, and he immediately understood that they should leave Erin and Jay alone. After they quickly disappeared, Jay kissed Erin's head. He could feel tears swelling up in his eyes as he remembered when someone who had previously been there for him had decided to not fulfill that duty anymore.

His older sister.

She had left right after high school with her then-prom-date-and-boyfriend, leaving a young Jay who was about to enter high school. He had never been able to get advice from her about how to get through it, and he now longer had his buddy for ranting and talking about school. She had just left. And he hadn't seen her since that day she left over thirteen years ago.

Erin pulled away from their embrace, wiping her eyes with the edge of her jacket. Jay leaned back against the passenger seat, still looking at Erin. He had grabbed Erin's right hand again, and he said to her, "I know right now things seem like crap, but it's going to be okay."

"You sure? Because I might have just gotten myself fired," Erin replied.

"I'm sure," Jay reassured her, "If he doesn't want to hurt you, he won't fire you. He knows how much he helped you out."

"Thanks," Erin said, leaning over to kiss Jay. After that, she buckled up her seatbelt and turned on the ignition. "What are you doing?" Jay asked quickly.

"I don't know about you, but I don't feel like going back in there today," Erin replied as she put the car into drive and removed the parking brake. "Buckle up. It's time I shared more about my past."

Jay sat looking at a drug rehab clinic on Houston that Lindsay had parked a block away from. "How did you get in there?" he asked.

"When Voight took me in, I was hooked on dope. Really bad," Erin replied, putting her hand through her hair. "While he was making arrangements for where I was going to go to school, he got me into rehab. By doing that, he saved me. I had really wanted a second chance, and I had just been given one, so I was committed to it. I was clean in two months."

"Wow," Jay replied, smiling, "That's amazing."

"Yeah. It's amazing what you can put your mind to when you're desperate."

Jay sighed, his memories of his sister leaving when he was 15 flowing back into his mind. As tears filled his eyes, Erin looked over and said, "Jay? What's wrong?"

With tears in his eyes, Jay turned to Erin and said, "I had an older sister growing up. She was so supportive of me. She got me, if you know what I mean. She helped me get dates with popular girls and get into some of the popular guys groups. She really helped me get through those awkward middle school years with all her advice and her willingness to listen to my day.

"And then, in her senior year of high school, when I was in 8th grade, she met this guy named Leonard, but everyone called him Leo for short. He was this super popular football player, and she fell hard for him. She ditched all her college plans to run off with him right after her high school graduation. She didn't even come to my middle school graduation ceremony."

"Oh my god," Erin said, squeezing Jay's hand, "I'm so sorry."

"She just left. She didn't even bother to offer me any advice for high school before I left. She basically left me to find my way through high school on my own.

"And that's why I ended up joining the army. Everyone in my small town in Maine went to the college in the next town over. And I didn't want to be stuck with everybody I'd been in high school with. I wasn't even thinking straight. I just wanted to get out.

"Of course, I ended up doing damage to myself in Afghanistan. Even after being back for five years, I still get nightmares. Of my friends dying." By this point, tears were running down Jay's cheeks too. "Maybe that's why our personalities fit together so well."

"What do you mean?" Erin asked, handing Jay a tissue.

"I mean, we've both suffered huge losses in our lives and had bad times. We both know how that feels. But…that said, that's not why I love you."

"Why do you, then?"

"Because you're fearless, Erin Lindsay," Jay said. "You're honest with everyone, so they know where they stand. And you're beautiful, just to top it all off."

Erin laughed lightly, making Jay smile. He suddenly had an idea. "Okay, so if we're going to be parents…"

"What?"

"Why don't we move in together? I mean, we'd have to find a new place, but I want to raise our kid right."

"I agree," Erin said, smiling, "But will you help me move? By the time I'm all packed up I'm going to have too big of a bump to carry anything heavy."

"Of course," Jay said, and he leaned in for a kiss.


End file.
